Chapter 6: SMSU as a Distinctive Organization

Having an Unambiguous Mission

As presented in Chapter 3, the University’s mission is clear. The mission is published in all catalogs, in its sequence of long-range plans, and in recruitment materials such as the Admissions Guide. The University’s numerous Web pages also contain clear statements related to the mission. The considerable evidence that the mission is pervasive also suggests that it is unambiguous.

Public dialogues about the mission during the past ten years have included a series of roundtable discussions in the early 1990’s before Welcoming the 21^st Century was adopted. In the late 1990s, as Countdown to the Centennial was being drafted, public dialogue refined the University mission. The latter resulted in the addition of “science and the environment” as a fifth theme, complementing education, business and economic development, the arts, and health. Additionally, this dialogue led to the arts being changed to the “creative arts” and education to “professional education.” In 2005, during the Centennial celebration year and in preparation for writing the long-range plan, Daring to Excel, another series of public dialogues was held. Consistent with the latest campus-wide discussions, a sixth theme, “the human dimension,” is in the process of being added to the mission statement.

As noted in Chapter 3, additional examples of evidence that the University’s mission is unambiguous include

• General education goals, structure, and courses emphasize the mission in its broadest sense:
  • IDS 110 and UHC 110
  • Public Affairs Curricular Components: HST 121 or 122, PLS 101, & GEP 397.
• Citizenship and Service-Learning is a viable and growing program, directly linked to the public affairs mission, which also allows students to apply their classroom learning while assisting community organizations.
• The Academic Advisement Center serves students with its award-winning Master Advisor Program, which trains and updates faculty, thereby improving student advisement.
• Student Affairs’ mission clearly supports the University’s mission to develop educated people. To achieve this goal, the Division actively works toward enrolling students, providing essential student services, enriching the co-curricular opportunities available to students, and helping students develop a refined sense of the values, integrity, and social awareness which is necessary for future leadership roles. These activities of Student Affairs provide evidence that Missouri State is a distinctive organization.
• The College of Continuing Education and the Extended University’s mission is to provide leadership in coordinating university, community, and global resources to promote lifelong learning. The services of the Extended University are designed to facilitate a major outreach commitment in response to the changing needs of citizens throughout southwest Missouri and beyond. To accomplish this outreach mission, a wide range of traditional and technology-based delivery systems is used to provide coursework that would otherwise be unavailable.
• While faculty development opportunities have been available for many years, the creation of the Academic Development Center in 2002 shows the University’s commitment to continuous improvement in learning.
• As Missouri State continues to evolve, external funding of research and curricular activities will become increasingly important and will contribute to its distinctiveness. The Office of Sponsored Research monitors projects, trains and assists faculty to write grants, and serves as a clearing house on external funding opportunities.

Through this Self-Study, the Steering Committee has noted the congruency of department and other unit missions with the University’s mission, as stated in their reports to the Steering Committee; these reports certainly reflect the mission’s unambiguous nature. At the same time, the Steering Committee recognizes some questions about the University’s mission still exist. The survey conducted by Robert Diamond indicates some faculty members do not understand or do not embrace some aspects of the mission. These aspects include the mission’s goals and application, especially in relationship to faculty roles and rewards. One challenge the University faces is clarifying the mission’s relationship to roles and rewards.